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The Dark Spirit by Sinthaster
The Dark Spirit I could write for years concerning the deep mysteries that have eluded me. So much of this world I will never see with my mortal eyes, and yet I hunger for all there is to know. The libraries at Blackmist Castle are expansive, seemingly endless, and yet I have exhausted their weathered tomes. I have journeyed to Halia Mortes and thrown apart their holy documents; I have traversed the King’s Road north to Gildor and south again to Arn, braving the perils of saddle sores and empty wine flasks for the search of wisdom. Of all things Man has writ, so few concern that which vexes me the most. Long ago, before the time of Man, beings of the sentient nature were of two divisions: light, or twisted dark. Just as Yav made the core immortal, so too did Gothkrissil corrupt it. Elves and Dwarves, Orcs and Trolls: these were the races of yore. Yet, amongst the murderous mire of The Black War of Falfir, another race emerged. Mankind, the child of light and dark, bore the weight of the world and undid the evil of that which we were wrought. The Origin of the Dark Spirit I have studied for many years, even before my exodus from Westhome, as to the secrets of the Dark Spirit. The soul of man, birthed from evil to serve the light: a focus long pursued by sages of all the ages of man. For all the wonders of Elves, for all the treasures of Dwarves, there is no race I would rather belong; no future I would rather inherit. Here follows a summarization, as of March the Fourth, the year 1015 of the Fourth Age, of all I have come to find concerning the Dark Spirit. In the Black War of Falfir, during the height of the Second Age, Gothkrissil made strong his allies in the dark places of Ura and brought war to the world within the Veil. The avatars of the gods and their spirits waged war against the Goth and his dark warriors. Elves stood with the Seven; the Dwarves, first tricked by Gothkrissil, eventually returned to the side of The Seven to fight against him once more. The damage done, however, was already catastrophic by that time. Elven empires lay in wastes, Dwarven families were split in twain, and the strength of the Seven was failing. For all their power and wisdom, Gothkrissil had something more. He was the First Vanessi, the lost jewel in the crown of Yav and the Firstborn of the Void. The Seven needed to cheat. The ancient texts are scarce of this glimpse of the past: For this reason, many of the religious vocation still debate the legitimacy of these claims. I, however, believe this to be true: The Seven stole from Gothkrissil. It is unknown exactly what was taken to forge humanity. Some say that one of the members of the Five was killed and their blood became the base. Golyala is a favorite choice among some scholars. Others say it was something from the Goth himself; an item, or perhaps even a piece of him: hair, a feather, a torn garment, a drop of blood. Though it seems unlikely that the Seven were able to harm Gothkrissil in any such fashion, the potency of the item to be crafted leads many to believe, myself included, that this is the more likely scenario. Like a broken sword to the forge, The Seven remade this darkness into a new, malleable form: a fragment of the soul of Gothkrissil. This is the Dark Spirit. The Seven, for lack of a better term, gambled. Using their own techniques and combining them with the power of the Dark Spirit, The Seven created a new race, a race that would one day inherit the world and beyond: Humanity was forged. They had no way of knowing what this new breed would do, which “half” of their souls they would surrender themselves to. They could only hope their love, compassion and teachings would become the driving force for their new children. The Black War of Falfir then began to change. The evil of Gothkrissil, which so readily killed Elves and corrupted Dwarves, seemed lost on humans. Mankind, though quite able to succumb to their own darkness of their own free will, were nearly immune to the evil miasma and magics of the Dark Armies. Evil from within was always a threat, but evil from without was but a nuisance. Gothkrissil, needless to say, was horrified. One by one his generals fell, his armies retreating further and further back towards the center of his stolen empire. The Dark Spirit, a shard of Gothkrissil’s own being, proved his ultimate undoing; at the hands of Ederis Whitefang and his army, an army of Mankind, the Deity Key was used and Gothkrissil undone. Analyzing the Dark Spirit Where do I begin? I suppose it is necessary to start not with Man; rather, it is in Elves we must ascertain the qualities unique to humanity. Perhaps we will have to go back even further. Firstly, we are to compare the Dark Spirit to the Vanessoore: Briefly, the Vanessoore, as touched upon in my other writings, is a relic of Ura’s infancy. Given to the High Elves of Lindala, the Vanessoore allows their supreme ruler, the Silver Lady, to carry the fate of her people upon her shoulders. The Vanesoore is most well-known for its ability to allow the user to peer into the eternal deepness of the Void, beyond the Veil and unto the very gates of Jerua. This is not some item any ''singular person can possess, however, as it seems that the Vanessoore is literally bound ''wthin the heart of Elliera, the reigning Silver Lady. My guess would be that perhaps some form of ritual allows the Vanessoore to pass between one Silver Lady to the next as she leaves this world. Perhaps it is simply hereditary. I most likely shall never know. There is another ability of the Vanessoore, however, that points towards what it means symbolically for its people; this lesser known power, which hath no name (as far as I am aware), allows the anger of the High Elves a conduit for release. High Elves, as so told to me by one of their number many years ago, believe anger to be a vile emotion brought into being by the Goth. They do all they can to stem its flow, refusing to succumb to its hot iron binds. The Vanessoore stores this anger, the collective rage of an entire race, and holds it deep within the heart of the Silver Lady. Or so I am told. We can then ascertain a certain peculiarity to Elves in this respect. One leader, like unto a queen bee, is the source of all of Lindala’s strength and courage. The Dark Spirit is quite the opposite. Rather than one human carrying this great gift/burden, ALL of humanity shares in the Dark Spirit. Every one of us, when born, is fused with this darkness. It is as much a part of us as The Seven’s lingering touch… perhaps even more so. This illustrates a key difference between the relationships between Elves and Men. Elves understand that all power and strength flows up towards the pinnacle of their race, a trait earned by birth. With Humanity, respect is ''earned ''through deeds, though we mimic the hierarchy first put forth by the Elves who taught us (again, a uniting of both light and dark traits). As so told by the sages and the Sojourn, Yav so made the Worlds before the time of Ura and The Seven. The first being wrought form by Yav’s divine will was Hasserra, the Great Betrayer. Hasserra was Vanessi, or more accurately the First Vanessi. He was made to be as splendid as his Father in form and as limitless in potential. Hasserra saw what his Father had made and decided that it was good, and so the pair governed over their vassals and realms for eons uncounted. Then, there was a change, and Hasserra became Gothkrissil. Tormentor of souls and devourer of Light. But why? The ancient words describe Hasserra’s creation as an act of necessity. Beyond this, it is impossible to ascertain the implications of Yav’s decision. The creation of Hasserra through Yav’s divinity gave birth to something new yet old, a division of that which existed but a purification of each divide. Hasserra was born from Yav, therefore, something of Yav was lost when Hasserra was created. If we are to look at this chronologically, we can assume a simple timeline: Yav created Hasserra created Man (through the Seven’s use of the Goth’s Soul). After the creation of Hasserra, the Vanessi were then made to worship Yav and His son. Indeed, it should be noted that these angels of Outer World were given form only by Yav; for all the power of Hasserra, he could not create life as his Father could, merely bend and twist it. This was the only power that Yav retained for Himself. The Vanessi then created Elves in appreciation and mimicry of their Father, and He was pleased with their work. As any man can tell you, whether or not they give credence to religion, there are traits unique to Man amongst the races of Ura. Most notably, our ambition: cities magnanimous, empires and technologies that swallow all around them, cultures and dreams unmatched. Humans can also write stimulating theological treatises in their spare time. We get bored, it seems. These are things not necessarily only seen in Man, but we most certainly do it best. This ties in directly with our dark heritage; for it is this very same ambition that led to Hasserra’s corruption to darkness. When we were given life by The Seven in the Hour of Peril, they knew they possessed limitations that The Goth could exploit. When Hasserra was made, a part of Yav was lost. When the Seven were then created, they too were created by Yav; in continuum, they lacked that which had already been lost by Him: the darkness used to create Hasserra and give unto him his ambition. It is here we see the first evidence for the correlation between Man’s darkness and Man’s ambition. The very reason Hasserra became Gothkrissil is due to his innate drive to achieve: Yav was content with what had been wrought in the vast expanses of The Void, but Hasserra wanted more. He could not find it in his Father, and so, he gave way to his inner Darkness (perhaps a trait originally found in Yav that was purged from His being at Hasserra’s creation) and became the Goth. Man, too, shares this very same Soul. The Dark Spirit, that which was made from the Goth Soul and the hearts of The Seven, allowed us the core tenets of Humanity that ultimately allowed for victory in Rhivic: 1. The Ambition of the Goth 2. The Morality of The Seven 3. Appreciation of Deific Darkness 4. Appreciation of Deific Light No other race, in Ura or elsewhere, possesses all four traits. Elves, great in the power and wise in their years, have both the love of light and of The Seven, yet lack the inherent understanding of Darkness or the ambition tied to it. For example, during the Black War of Falfir the Men of the West would charge boldly into the darkest pits of death and decay, deterred only by fear or pain. The actual force of evil, the dark miasma that slept and dwelt within the catacombs of the vaults of the Goth, did not harm Mankind; Elves, when exposed to the magics of corruption, would oft gather rank and flee (if not die outright). The Spirit and Humanity We can safely say that Man is what it is thanks to the touch of The Dark Spirit. But where do the differences really begin? If a man were somehow separated into two halves, a ‘Seven’ side and a ‘Goth’ side, what effect would there be? Could beings exist, survive? It should be stated that, according to Bishop Matthias, whom was kind enough to speak with me during my stay in Halia Mortes, Man cannot survive if his darkness or his light is removed. We cannot exist without this balance, and attempts to remove one or the other have always resulted in one thing: death. He equates it as akin to reaching into one’s own back and removing their spine. This is also the reason why only bodies of Man can be reanimated (not resurrected) by dark magic; the latent energies of the Dark Spirit assist in raising the body and giving it temporary life. I would study this more, were it not so dangerous. This then begs the question: if that latent energy of the Dark Spirit is not harvested or used in some way, where does it go? The Fate of Man In texts long since burned away, their memory only carried by stories and songs, the ultimate fate of Humanity is one of choice. At the End of Days, our souls will choose whom we will fight for, rather we still be living in the mortal realm or basking in the rest of death: The Seven, or the Darkness. It is spoken that the Goth will return, his “Fourth and Final march”, and lay claim to all that exists. Elves will be gone, Dwarves will be gone, and Man will have inherited the world. We will then choose which side of ourselves to surrender to. The outcome is unknown. The question I ask then, if this parable is to be believed: if the last coming of The Goth is the Fourth, then when is the Third? The first war of The Goth was before Ura’s time. The second was The Black War of Falfir, in which he was laid to rest. Does the Godswalk hold more than what was once originally believed? This enemy to come, the thing the Seven are vying to destroy; could it be the return of Gothkrissil? Will I live to see such things unfold? Should I be worried that I am both terrified and yet, somehow, excited?